The same principle applies to plastic. No one card gives you both the best cash-back earnings and the most travel rewards. No one card helps you pay back your debt and lets you stroll into an airport lounge gratis. No one card helps you establish credit and offers the overlooked things that can bring you joy, such as a concierge service to help you find a great restaurant in Budapest.

We believe that the best credit card is the one you’ll get a lot of use out of and reach for in your wallet time and again. There is one card (or maybe more) that will be the best fit for your situation at this moment in time—and we’re here to help you find it.

Best cash-back credit cards

You should get a cash-back credit card if you want an easy rewards credit card experience, where everything you buy earns a rebate, and you can redeem your trove as a direct deposit into your bank account or statement credit.

Best for 2% cash back: Citi® Double Cash Card

Our pick for 2% cash back

Why we like it: This is the set-it-and-forget-it option. You receive a solid cash-back rate on everything you buy and then pay off, so you don’t have to remember when and where to use it. Your rewards are easy to redeem; finagling with rewards portals isn’t necessary. The Double Cash has fewer bells and whistles than some of its competitors, but it’s a workhorse in your wallet, netting 2% back on everything you buy (1% when you make the purchase and 1% when you pay it off).

Flaws but not dealbreakers: The Double Cash has a 3% foreign-transaction fee. This isn’t the card you turn to if you’re traveling abroad.

Best cash-back rate we found

Why we like it: No card we researched gives you the chance to earn a higher cash-back rate, but you’ll have to jump through some narrow hoops to earn it. You can receive a rate of 3.71%, according to Wirecutter calculations, if you have $100,000 in a qualifying Bank of America/Merrill Lynch account. And remember: Although this card is marketed as a “travel” card, you can redeem any points you receive as cash into your eligible Bank of America/Merrill Lynch bank or investment account. We said there were hoops, but it can be worth the effort.

Flaws but not dealbreakers: This card has a $95 annual fee. Also, you need to either have $100,000 in a qualifying Bank of America/Merrill Lynch account or be willing to shuffle that much into one in order to qualify for the top cash-back rate (which may be accessible only to the very lucky few).

Our pick for building credit

Why we like it: Consider this card if you’re ready to move on from your basic card, but your credit profile doesn’t get you one of our other picks—either you’re just not experienced enough with plastic for the banks’s liking, or you’re recovering from some credit challenges. This card is advertised to customers with average credit (which, as Capital One defines it, means you’ve had credit for less than three years or you’ve defaulted on a loan once in the past five years), and it will net you a rate of 1.33% per Wirecutter calculations.

Flaws but not dealbreakers: With the $39 annual fee, you’ll need to spend $2,600 annually on the QuicksilverOne® to earn enough rewards to break even. The QuicksilverOne® also imposes a very high APR on purchases, so you should make sure to avoid carrying a balance.

Best travel rewards credit cards

You should get a travel rewards credit card if you’re constantly on the go and want to earn free flights and travel (that you’re not limited to using with one airline or hotel), and want access to nice perks like airline lounges to take the sting out of flying.

Why we like it: The Reserve® burst onto the scene in 2016 with huge perks—and a gigantic annual fee to match. A few years later, the sign-up bonus has been halved, and there’s a bevy of improved competitors.

But the Reserve® remains the best, most flexible travel rewards card thanks to the numerous ways you can earn bonus points (so much counts as travel, including your subway ticket, Lyft and Uber rides, and tolls on bridges and highways) and how you can put those points to work (no blackout dates, so you can use your points to fly home for the holidays, and your points are worth 50% more when you redeem them through Chase’s travel portal). The annual $300 travel credit is both generous and easy to earn, especially if you’re always on the road, or if you hook your Reserve® up to your Uber or Lyft account.

Flaws but not dealbreakers: You’ll have to spend $4,000 in your first three months after opening your account to earn the 50,000-point sign-up bonus (which may be a bridge too far for many folks). You’ll also need to put in some elbow grease to justify the $450 annual fee. On top of that, transferring points to one of the Reserve’s travel partners can be challenging and time-consuming if you want to get the most value out of your points.

Why we like it: The Chase Sapphire Reserve’s $450 price tag, no matter the rewards, may be too rich for your blood. Or maybe you want to pair a travel card with a cash-back card you already have in your wallet, or you know you’re not the kind of person who will spend hours maximizing your spending and rewards redemption to come out ahead. If that sounds like you, consider this new, no-annual-fee card from PenFed. No other card will net you more rewards without charging a fee for your trouble, and you’ll also get a handful of those nice perks (TSA Pre✓/Global Entry and airline fee credit) that the premium cards crow about. And even if you don’t use this card as much as you hope for travel, it charges no foreign-transaction fee, so it’s still a solid companion for traveling abroad.

Flaws but not dealbreakers: You need some kind of military association to become a PenFed member. If that’s not you, consider alternative ways to get through the door, including paying $17 to become a member of Voices for America’s Troops.

Best airline credit card: Platinum Card® from American Express

Best airline credit card

Why we like it: The Platinum® card was designed to tickle your frequent-flyer fancy.

A generous welcome bonus—which you earn after you spend $5,000 within three months of receiving the card—coupled with unparalleled bonus points when you book a flight or hotel, gives the Platinum® an edge over the Chase Sapphire Reserve® on airline spending. You simply need to fly a lot to take advantage.

And those are just the miles. The Platinum® opens the door to a diverse choice of airport lounges, including the much-heralded Centurion Lounges. You can also frequent Delta Sky Clubs (if you buy a Delta ticket with the card) and Priority Pass lounges.

Also great are two other benefits: up to $475 in travel credits (see below for the nitty-gritty) and American Express’s universally acclaimed customer service.

Flaws but not dealbreakers: American Express gave its premium travel card a face-lift after the Chase Sapphire Reserve® burst onto the scene in 2016—and it’s still not the best card for all travel spending. You have to play by Amex’s rules to earn the maximum points, including booking your flight directly from the airline or through the American Express Travel portal. You also have to book your prepaid hotels through the portal to earn five points per dollar spent.

And you earn only one point per dollar spent on dining, unlike with many other premium travel cards. Although the Platinum’s travel credit can net you up to $475, it does so only after you jump through some hoops. For instance, you must select a particular airline for your airline-fee credit, and the $200 annual Uber credit comes in $15 monthly installments (and $35 in December, presumably for the holidays). Life is much simpler with the $300 from the Chase Sapphire Reserve®.

Best balance-transfer cards

You should get a balance-transfer credit card if you have high-interest debt on another card (or cards), and you need breathing room to pay down your I.O.U.

Best for paying off balance quickly and cheaply (up to two years): BankAmericard® Credit Card from Bank of America

Why we like it: Many people think they can pay down their balance transfer during the intro period that balance-transfer cards offer—but in our research, we found this regularly wasn’t the case. If you’re sure you can create a paydown plan and stick to it, the BankAmericard® is unbeatable. We ran the numbers on more than 100 card offerings and found that the BankAmericard® will charge you the least in fees and interest if you can pay down your debt in two years or less. You’ll receive 15 billing cycles of no interest on your transferred balance, and you won’t pay a fee if you transfer the debt within 60 days of opening your account.

Flaws but not dealbreakers: If it takes you longer than two years to pay off your balance, your interest costs may quickly stack up with the BankAmericard® because of its high regular balance-transfer APR (14.99%–24.99%).

Why we like it: When we researched balance transfers, we learned something surprising: An estimated 25% to 50% of Americans take over two years to fully repay their debt once it’s transferred. This matters because most no-interest balance-transfer offers are for 15 months or less, so there’s likely to be a point where you end up paying interest.

So if you want to pay as little interest as possible while you work down your debt but you want a chance to pay off your debt quickly and cheaply, the Barclaycard Ring® card offers you the best of both worlds. Yes, you pay a 2% balance-transfer fee, but you receive 15 months of 0% interest when you move the debt over and you’re charged a 13.99% variable APR once the 15 months are up (this APR is one of the lowest of all the regular APRs we studied). Together, these make the Ring® one of the cheapest options for paying down debt over the long haul.

Flaws but not dealbreakers: You can find cards that won’t charge you a balance-transfer fee and offer a 0% APR on your transferred balance for a period—but the Barclaycard Ring® isn’t one of them. So if you really think you can pay off your debt in two years or less, consider the BankAmericard®.

Our balance-transfer picks, side by side

$0 if you transfer balance within 60 days of account opening; 3% (minimum $10) after that

2% or $5 of transferred balance (whichever is greater) if you transfer balance within 45 days of account opening; $0 after that

Introductory balance-transfer terms

0% APR for 15 billing cycles (then 14.99%–24.99% variable APR)

0% APR for 15 months (then 13.99% variable APR)

Best secured credit cards

You should get a secured credit card if you’re hoping to start building credit with your first card or recovering from an earlier credit setback. Think about it as a stepping stone to improved financial health and better cards in the future if you use it responsibly.

Why we like it: Do you have a short credit history, or none at all? If so, the Discover it® Secured could put you on the path to what you really want: building up your credit score so you can get approved for a better credit card. Discover automatically reviews your account after eight months of your being a cardholder to see if you qualify to upgrade to an unsecured card (the product that comes to mind when most people think of the words “credit card”) and get your deposit refunded. This might not sound revolutionary, but many secured cards don’t give you the opportunity to upgrade to an unsecured account.

Flaws but not dealbreakers: Your deposit won’t earn interest. Sure, the interest you stand to earn on, say, a $500 deposit over a year is a couple of bucks, but it’s the principle: If issuers are holding on to your money, the least they can do is let it earn some interest. Also, the 24.99% variable purchase APR is one of the highest we saw during our research.

Why we like it: Unlike many credit card issuers, State Department Federal Credit Union (SDFCU) doesn’t run income or credit checks to determine if you’re eligible for the card, making this a good bet if you’re struggling to get approved for other cards.

Flaws but not dealbreakers: SDFCU was created by and for employees of the US Department of State. If that’s not you, joining the credit union is still possible, but it takes a bit of hoop-jumping; one way to do this is to become a lifetime member of the American Consumer Council, which costs $15. Additionally, SDFCU may run a hard inquiry to verify your identity when you apply to become a member. Hard inquiries can knock a few points off your score, so it can be a blow if your score is on the low side.

Why we like it: Students and young people frequently run into the credit catch-22: You have to prove to banks you’re able to handle one of the premier rewards cards (usually by having a credit card) before they’ll let you qualify for one. This means you need a card with training wheels—one that provides enough protections so you can learn the basics of credit without getting into trouble.

The Discover it® Chrome for Students offers useful educational tools (including text alerts when you use up a preset amount of your credit limit), and it’s generally forgiving of early credit mistakes (you won’t be charged for your first late payment). Be sure to use the Discover Scorecard feature to monitor your credit score; when your score nudges past 720, it’s probably time to consider a proper rewards card.

Flaws but not dealbreakers: The Discover it® Chrome for Students doesn’t charge a foreign-transaction fee, which is great—but if you take your card abroad, you might find that vendors won’t accept it, which kind of defeats the purpose.

Why we like it: Since Visa, this card’s payment platform, is more broadly accepted than Discover, this card is the better option for students who are traveling or studying abroad. Foreign travelers can also take advantage of the app’s location-tracking feature, so you don’t need to inform Bank of America it was you who bought that baguette.

But the Travel Rewards Credit Card for Students is also useful for learning credit basics, thanks to text alerts about when you need to pay your bill or how much of your credit is available. We’re also fans of the live chatbot; robots haven’t yet taken over the world, but they can help you schedule payments, send money to friends, and tell you how much your account balance is.

Flaws but not dealbreakers: The Travel Rewards Credit Card for Students isn’t as forgiving of a first-time credit user’s mistakes as our top pick is. Just one late payment can lead to Bank of America instituting a 29.99% penalty APR on your account—and the rate can stay that high indefinitely for new purchases.

How you can work out which credit card is right for you

Looking for a new credit card can be a headache. You might not know what you want, or you may not fully understand what’s being sold to you. And that’s okay: A lot of people don’t.

But there are some questions you can ask yourself to work it out.

If you’re looking for a travel rewards card

To help suss out what type of rewards person you are, we asked Ron Lieber, Your Money columnist for The New York Times (Wirecutter’s parent company), for guidance. After all, as reported in The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), $9 out of every $10 spent with a credit card in the US is on a rewards card.

Lieber recommends answering a few questions to hone your thinking.

Do you want the best rewards rate possible, or do you want a card that will get the job done without too much effort?

Do you care about all the extra perks (such as lounge access and the best possible travel insurance), or are you looking to get in and out of an airport as quickly as possible?

Are you willing to pay hundreds of dollars in an annual fee if you receive the best travel card? Or does that number cause your stomach to turn?

In a 2017 Experian and Edelman Intelligence survey, more than half of respondents said they didn’t want a card with an annual fee, perhaps worrying they wouldn’t use their high-priced card as designed and would end up throwing $450 down the drain. Nearly a third of credit card holders, after all, don’t even redeem the rewards they earn.

You want to take advantage of every opportunity to make getting from A to B more enjoyable.

You spend a bunch on travel (such as on airfare and hotels, and even parking garages) and eating out. You should also plan to go on a decent number of trips each year to take advantage of the card’s perks: If, say, you travel only once a year internationally, you need to spend a fair chunk on that trip to make this card potentially worth your while.

If you don’t want to mess around with a huge annual fee but you’re keen to start earning some travel rewards, want no foreign-transaction fees, and fancy getting a credit for your TSA Pre✓/Global Entry fee, go with the PenFed Pathfinder Rewards American Express® Card.

If you don’t really travel at all (or spend very little on that) but still want to be rewarded for using your credit card, you may be better off with one of our cash-back picks.

If you want a cash-back card

Does a simple cash-back program make you happier than having to finagle reward points to pay for travel?

Are you willing to pay an annual fee for the best cash-back rate?

Do you want the same cash-back rate on everything you buy?

If you’re looking for an easy-to-use, easy-to-understand cash-back card, go with the Citi® Double Cash Card. You’ll earn 2% back on everything you buy when you pay off your bill, and you’ll never have to think about your card again.

If you want to get rid of credit card debt

If you think you’re in a position to get a handle on your debt and you’re not looking for ways to delay repayment, a card with good balance-transfer terms can help you get back on track. But how can you choose the right one?

This comes down to one simple question: How long do you need to pay it off?

The trade-off goes something like this: You take your debt from a credit card that’s charging you high interest and put it on a new card offering an introductory period of 0% (or low interest) for a typical stretch of 12 to 18 months. Most cards charge you a fee for this service (generally 3% to 5% of the debt).

So you have four considerations when you want to move a debt:

a fee to move the debt (known as a balance-transfer fee)

the length of 0% interest on your transferred debt

the interest, or APR, you’ll owe on whatever debt remains after the intro period ends

how long you think you’ll take to pay it off

That last part is the most important factor—you’ll owe a lot less in interest the faster you can pay off your debt. We did the work of analyzing 117 cards with balance-transfer offers, and we landed on two picks based on how long you think you’ll take to repay your debt (and which ones can do it the most cheaply).

If you think you’ll take less than two years, consider the BankAmericard®. For more than two years, go for the Ring®.

Note: If you’re a revolver (you tend to carry a balance from month to month), you shouldn’t apply for a credit card to alleviate your debt spiral. In fact, you may not want to spend with a credit card at all. Research shows that consumers tend to spend more with credit than they would have otherwise with cash, while many folks struggle to save enough cash to cover an unexpected $400 expense.

That’s a potentially damaging combination. Yes, credit cards are more convenient than cash, and in some cases (such as renting a car), you’re required to present plastic. But ultimately, credit cards can be worse for your financial health if you consistently carry debt. If that’s you, consider using a balance-transfer card only to pay off your existing IOU and then go back to cash.

If you want a secured card

Before applying for a secured card, here are some questions you should ask:

Do you have money (typically at least $200) to tie up as a security deposit? It may take several months at least before you’ll get that money back.

Can you commit to spending only small amounts on the card (think $50) each month and ideally pay that off in full every billing cycle? Secured cards generally come with low credit limits (as low as $200), and spending too much of your credit limit can hurt your score. This ends up being counterproductive if you’re focused on building credit.

Can you get approved for an unsecured product? Unsecured cards don’t require a security deposit and often provide more benefits and perks than secured cards; secured cards are primarily a credit-building product.

If you want to build credit at college

We think you should consider a student credit card only if your main intention is to build credit. College is a great time for you to get your credit to a good place before you graduate into the real world. Employers, landlords, and lenders may all check your credit, so getting a credit card and building credit early can get you a headstart on adulting.

Extra credit: You might also find this article helpful

Learn how to get your first credit card, how old you need to be, and what options you have if your parents can help out (or if they can’t).

Our student-card picks don’t charge an annual fee and have a lot of helpful tools to ensure that you get educated about your credit scores. Primarily, there’s one question you should ask when you’re choosing a student card:

Will you use this card mostly in the US, or are you likely to travel or study overseas?